Knitting and Crocheting and sometimes Spinning Blog

5 Fun Facts about Knitting

“Why do you have a small ball of yarn in the bottom of your bag?” asked Potato to Grandma.
Grandma responds, “You never throw out yarn. Ever.”
And somehow that conversation got be thinking about a random fact that I learned about a certain type of fiber. I then thought of all of the other facts about yarn and knitting that I know about – stored up there in that mind of mine. It was then that I decided, “Hey, that would make a cool blog post!” So here I am, typing up a handful of facts about knitting that some of you stitchers might find cool. Or for those of you who have never knitted before might find interesting. So I introduce to you now: 5 Fun Facts about Knitting

No one knows how old knitting actually is!
It seems like knitting has been around for forever! And funny thing is, no one really does know how old knitting is. It’s a trade that has been practiced for centuries, used for making socks, sweaters, hats, etc. Knitting is considered to have originated in the the middle eastern part of the world; yet the time period of when is still a mystery!

Knitting used to be dominated by men
That’s right! Back in the day, knitting was a men-only sport and women were not allowed to knit. Weird how we rarely see men knitting in a public setting now or even associate them with the term “knitting”. Actually, Alan Turing, a famous mathematician back in WWII who is credited with having built the first computer, was known to knit in public.

Our friends Josh and Ian crocheting

The process of knitting and computer programming are surprisingly similar!As a computer programmer, this interests me. If we allow the knitter to act as an interpreter or compiler, and the computer programmer to be the person who creates the patterns, the two are indeed very alike. We can also compare the different data structures to different needle types as well as Big-O values of codes to the time length of a pattern it would take a knitter to create and finish it. If interested more, please see Knitting and Computer Programming.

Code for finding a Euler circuit

The softest fiber in the world is… Possum?!?When visiting an alpaca farm last semester, my knitting group and I were surprised when to hear the answer of “What is the softest fiber in the world?” The owner of the alpaca farm then told us that it’s actually possum. It’s soft, silky fur can actually make great yarn. Check out fellow blogger, Kiwiyarns’ posts about Possum yarn here:Possum Yarn

Picture found on Wikipedia

The fastest knitter in the world, Miriam Tegels, can knit 118 stitches in one minute.
Oh my goodness – if I could knit this fast I would be able to knit a sweater in no time! I’d be able to finish that blanket that I’ve been working on since January in a day! But yes, Tegels has been given the title of fastest knitter in the world according to Guinness Book of World Records. Check out this YouTube video of her if you don’t believe me! Miriam Tegels Knitting

After seeing Tegels knit so fast, Grandma, Helena, and I decided – hey let’s time ourselves!
A bitter Grandma and I ended up tying – each with 25 stitches in one minute. (she is arguing that she had 26 stitches, but it was not yet on the other needle) Helena beat us both with 29 stitches in one minute. Go Helena! None of us know continental knitting, so I’d say that’s pretty good for English knitters!

Kitty’s attempt at speed knitting using the English style knitting technique